CNBC Fast Money’s Brian Kelly: Bitcoin Is Like The ‘Internet In The 1980s’

06 06 2018 / 11:30

Answering the question about the potential of Bitcoin, Kelly stated that it is slightly incorrect to compare the cryptocurrency to the internet in 1995 - like he used to do earlier.

Brian Kelly of CNBC’s Fast Money compared cryptocurrency to “Internet in the 1980s,” prompting that Bitcoin (BTC) is still far from the stage of fully developed product in an April 13 interview on CNBC’s Trading Block.

Answering the question about the potential of Bitcoin, Kelly stated that it is slightly incorrect to compare the cryptocurrency to the internet in 1995 - like he used to do earlier. It would be more precise if we went ten more years back:

“I think this technology is going to work, it’s going to be game changing, but it’s very early days, so we can have this massive volatility.”

Precisely, Kelly compares Bitcoin with early 80’s companies like Cisco or Microsoft, saying that the principle of work of Bitcoin is similar to those used in routers and internet protocols developed by Cisco. But Kelly also emphasizes that Bitcoin should not be considered as a company or an asset:

“This is an open source software, you can’t think of it as a company, and that’s where people make their mistake [...] This is not a stock, this is not a company.”

Fundstrat’s Tom Lee assumes that Bitcoin’s fall which has begun since new year is related to a taxpayer sell off in the US before the tax day, April 17. In the interview, Kelly agrees with Lee, adding that “we’ll know presumably after April 17 if we can hold these gains.”

Kelly also refers to the recent report from Barclays analysts, who compare the cryptocurrency to a “virus” and an infectious disease that would “never hit another high again.” Though, Kelly says that he “wants to buy any asset, whether it’s Bitcoin or not,” when such negative articles appear on pages.

In another Friday interview Kelly stated that he is consistent with opinion of Tim Draper who predicts that Bitcoin will hit $250,000 by 2022.